Donald Trump explains why he admires Boris Johnson as Theresa May watches on

Written by Dods staff on 13 July 2018 in Diary

Diary

Watch: The president’s logic was not sophisticated.

Many have said it in private. Now one minister has gone public to say that Donald Trump is wrong; Boris Johnson is not fit to lead the country.

“No Mr President… Boris Johnson would make a terrible PM,” stated Margot James, in an uncharacteristically brutal social media assault on her colleague.

Over at Chequers, the president was sticking to his guns during a remarkable press conference.

The main reason for telling that The Sun that Johnson would be great prime minister was that the former foreign secretary had been nice to him, Trump explained as May watched on awkwardly and appeared to grimace at one point.

“They asked about Boris Johnson… I said he’d be a great prime minister. He’s been very nice to me. He’s been saying very good things about me as president,” he said.

“I think he thinks I’m doing a great job... But Boris, I think would be a great prime minister."

But then it turned out that Trump also thought May was top notch.

Turning to the prime minister, he added: “This incredible woman, right here, is doing a fantastic job a great job. And I mean that.”

And for good measure, Trump tried to argue that the Sun write-up of his interview was “fake news” because it did not include his positive comments about May in its headline.